FIRE's video: Student investigated for re-attaching a fallen note

Read the full story: https://www.thefire.org/a-student-re-attached-a-fallen-note-of-support-to-a-staff-members-door-then-her-university-investigated-her-for-harassment/ UPDATE (12/15/20): Frostburg State says there will be no punishment or further investigation into Cassie Conklin for re-attaching a fallen note to a staff member’s door. FROSTBURG, Md., Dec. 14, 2020 — How far will a university administration go to retaliate for bad press? At Frostburg State University, the answer is chilling. Student reporter Cassie Conklin must have ruffled some administrative feathers for covering criticism of the Maryland university’s COVID-19 response for the student newspaper. After video showed her re-attaching a fallen note to a staff member’s door during a campus protest, she found herself the target of a baseless harassment investigation by the administration, and the newspaper found itself facing university demands to investigate and punish its own reporter. “The realization that the president of Frostburg State University, a school that I deeply love and respect, chose to personally target and retaliate against me for my journalistic efforts has been overwhelming, confusing, and hurtful,” Conklin said. Today, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and the Student Press Law Center call on FSU President Ronald Nowaczyk to immediately end the investigation into Conklin without punishment and make clear that The Bottom Line, the university’s independent student newspaper, is not required to comply with any administrative directives.